NZ dollar sinks against Aussie

The New Zealand dollar dipped and then recovered on weaker than expected retail sales data today.

The NZ dollar was at US71.17c at 5pm from US71.27c at 5pm yesterday. It fell from around US71.30c to the session low of US70.66c after Statistics New Zealand said retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.6 per cent in February when the market was expecting a flat figure.

Economists said the data was volatile but household related spending appeared to be weaker than expected.

The NZ dollar was also weaker on the crosses, particularly against the Australian dollar. After peaking at its highest level against the Australian dollar in nearly a fortnight, near A77.25c yesterday, it fell away overnight and was A76.35c at 5pm today.

It fell to 0.5211 euro by 5pm from 0.5249 at the same time yesterday.

ANZ chief foreign exchange dealer Murray Hindley said the market was waiting for US CPI and retail sales data tonight. The NZ dollar's recovery from its session low was helped by strong Asian equity markets today.

- REUTERS reported that equity markets responded to strong earnings from Intel and a monetary tightening in Singapore that caused speculation of a yuan revaluation.

The NZ dollar rose to 66.32 yen at 5pm from 66.07 at the same time yesterday, while the trade weighted index fell to 65.69 from 65.95 yesterday.

- NZPA